


Thank You Card

by PinkandRed (LucyRed), Sammykh



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Creepy touch by Jack, Hurt/Comfort, Jack has a gay crush and hasn't processed this fact yet, M/M, Psychological Torture, Rhys gets the shit beat out of him, Torture, divergence from the beginning of episode 5, of course he's an awful person so it's a bad thing for rhys, will add tags as we go on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-08-02 10:29:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16303466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LucyRed/pseuds/PinkandRed, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sammykh/pseuds/Sammykh
Summary: Jack decides that killing Rhys is too merciful.Well. Killing him *quickly* is too merciful, anyhow...





	1. Change of Plans

**Author's Note:**

> Here's some torture binches

Rhys thought there couldn't be anything more disturbing than the sound of Handsome Jack's manic laughter echoing inside his head. He was wrong.

The sound of Handsome Jack's laughter echoing from the giant screen behind Rhys as the former middle manager struggled to free his arms from the chair was way worse.

“Ohh, this just feels right. You know? Like it was meant to be. Vault Hunters kill me. I learn humility, you bring me back where I belong, wiser and stronger…” Jack's face flashed to the monitor in front of Rhys to enjoy his furious, frantic expression and useless struggling. “It's a…it's a pretty sweet little character arc, isn't it?”

Rhys ground his teeth together, fists tightly clenched as he fit Jack with a glare that was almost impressive if it weren't on Rhys's face. The guy just couldn't look intimidating. “Lemme  _ go _ you  _ asshole _ !”

“Aw, come on, Rhysie, don't be like that.” Jack admonished in a coo, delighted that Rhys was still being so entertaining. “Are you gonna die? Yeah, technically you are; but look at the bright side! I'm still gonna use your body to eat food and bang people and whatnot. It's not like it's gonna go to waste.”

Rhys just kept struggling, still seething and fighting to get his hands free.

“Oh yeah. So that prototype I was talking about?” Jack smirked as Rhys graced him with that cute glare again, sending a signal to his desk.

Rhys's gaze darted to the metallic golden hand as it began sliding towards the monitor, eyebrows going up and anger in his eyes turning to concern.

Jack enjoyed watching the concern turn to fear as the hand disappeared and the desk lifted, his visage sneering down at Rhys as the full skeleton was revealed.

“Yeah...Nakayama actually built it…”

Rhys had definitely connected the dots by now, but Jack continued anyway. Explaining the horrible things that were going to happen to people was half the fun!

“So, if you could just stay still, this is gonna get grafted into your body, and then I'll get uploaded into it.”

Rhys said nothing. Probably he couldn't manage to - fear likely had him paralyzed, after all.

“Don't worry though sweetheart -- the process will kill the  _ shit _ out of ya. So you won't have to suffer as a mind-controlled zombie slave or whatever, so ya got that going for ya.”

Rhys looked up at Jack's face, eyes wide and pupils contracted. Ohh, such a sweet, sweet look of terror. Jack was going to miss it, honestly.

“Couldn't figure out how to get this thing into my body without killing me, but hey, doesn't matter if  _ you _ die. Just so long as my consciousness gets uploaded afterward-”

“Hey, listen to me.” Rhys interjected, sounding almost calm and in-charge, which prompted Jack to actually listen. “Your plan is  _ stupid _ . You haven't thought this through!” And just like that, Rhys was back to looking angry and adorable.

Jack snorted. “You mispronounced 'genius’ pretty badly there. You have a stroke or something kid? You used to  _ idolize  _ me, now you're gonna  _ be _ me! You  _ love _ this! It's  **perfect** .”

“No! It  _ really _ isn't!” Rhys spat, sitting forward a little and glaring so hard his eyes were just slits. “You’re stuck in my head, Jack. Our minds are  _ connected _ ! If I die,  _ you _ die, remember?!”

Oh  _ no _ . It was so... _ cute _ . Jack laughed, enjoying the suppressed look of panic that his reaction put on Rhys’s face. “Is that how you thought you were gonna get out of this? Sorry, that’s not how it works anymore.” His grin widened as he got handed to him an opportunity to further crush any bit of hope out of Rhys’s mind. “I’ve transferred my consciousness into the computer systems of the base. You know what that means?”

Rhys’s brow creased and he stared at Jack nervously, likely already knowing. But Jack wanted him to  _ really  _ know. He seized hold of every speaker on the moonbase, ready to announce his return in the most Jack way possible.

**_I_ **

**_AM_ **

**_HELIOS_ **

With every word, Rhys had jolted as if struck. He was petrified now. It had finally sunk into the adorable little idiot's head how powerless he was, and how  _ powerful  _ Jack was.

Jack smirked down at him from the giant screen behind him, delighting in the panicked expression gracing his victim’s face. “Now you get it, cupcake?”

Rhys shrunk back against the chair, breathing getting shallower. Yeah, he got it - he was worthless now to Jack except as a skin suit. “... really? Th… This is what you're going to do?” Rhys forced a glare at Jack that had unmistakable traces of what could only be described as heartbreak. “I've served my purpose so now I'm skin pizza?!”

“Ehhh, more of a meat suit than a skin pizza.” Jack mused as all manner of blades and scary pain causing objects came whirring out of the desk.

Rhys yelped a little in spite of himself, tugging harder at his restraints. “Wh-why do you have this shit in your desk? What the hell is wrong with you?!” 

“Just  _ told _ you why dumdum.” Jack chuckled as the blades moved slowly closer. That scared little face of Rhys’s was priceless...

Rhys gave another undignified yelp, wriggling harder in his seat and then...rolling back. “...huh?” He peered down over the side of the chair and then testingly pushed with his foot against the ground. He silently screamed in relief and glared back up at Jack, kicking himself away from the desk and out of reach of the horrible surgery tools.

“Oh for gods- I forgot the frickin chair had wheels. You know what, that’s- that’s my bad. That’s on me.” Jack said as the robo arms reached almost to their breaking point for Rhys. “Come back over here Rhys, you know you’re just delaying the inevitable here.”

“Yeah, sure Jack! Let me just freaking wheel back into death by horrible pain zone!” Rhys spat, tugging harder at his restraints. Come  _ on  _ wasn’t this stupid metal arm good for anything?!

“Now jus- Just quit squirming. You’re going to scar up my new body!” Jack protested with frustration.

Rhys gave up on trying to pull himself free, biting his lip and looking at the straining saw blade reaching for him. He shifted the chair to the side and inched it closer, towards the wrist restraints on his cybernetic arm. The whirring metal started digging into the restraint, and Rhys gave a yell of pain as it also carved a little into his wrist, yanking the cybernetic free as soon as the restraint had been cut through. “Ha!” 

Jack took advantage of Rhys’s closeness to grab his arm with one of the appendages and pull him close. “Hey, at least you went down fightin’ kid. And in horrible,  _ horrible _ agonizing pain.” Jack laughed.

Rhys grappled for a few moments with the metal arm hugging his chest, eyes darting up to the laser aimed at his head. He grabbed it and started cutting away the restraint. The appendage released his shoulder and instead snatched the Gortys piece out of his pocket. “Hey! Nonono! NO! Drop it!” Rhys snapped like he was dealing with a naughty dog. “ _ Drop it _ !” He finished cutting the second restraint and stood up, shoving back the chair.

Rhys’s gaze fixated on the device, and he reached to grab the beacon from the claw. Unexpectedly, the arm  _ did  _ drop it, lowering to the ground. Rhys didn’t pause to consider how suspicious that was before leaning down, grabbing it, and then turning to hit the button on the chair to open the hatch. He started to run for the opening, only for the lowered arm to seize his ankle at the last moment and knock him to the ground with a yelp. “Gah!” 

Jack cackled. “Handsome Jack  _ always _ wins!” He gloated as Rhys was dragged back to the desk.

Frantically Rhys clawed at the floor, his metal arm helping him put up quite the fight as it dug into the hardwood flooring.  _ “No _ ! Let me  _ go _ , you  _ psychopath _ !” Rhys yelled, tugging forcefully at his leg and prepared to leave it behind if he had to.

“You know, all this name calling you’re doing here, yeah it just makes me want to kill you much more slowly.” Jack scolded as a robo arm grabbed Rhys by the back of his neck to pull him up and hold him in place.

Rhys clawed at it, slowly prying its fingers open. He was only able to make desperate, choked noises in response to Jack’s statement, gasping for air when he had the opportunity to do so.

Only to immediately lose it by screaming when the laser began carving into his back. 

“Also, thanks for making me realize, cutting you up from the front, well, that would just make your unfortunate looking body way more unfortunate, what with all the bloody scars on your face. So thanks for making it so much easier to correct that.” Jack chuckled. Another robo arm grabbed Rhys’s other ankle to hold him still.

Rhys wasn’t making it out of this office alive. He felt tension building up in his throat as he did his best to accept that fact, shutting his eyes and letting go of the metal claw. It clamped down tightly around his neck at the sudden lack of resistance, and Rhys grabbed for the beacon in his back pocket.

Before he could be stopped, he slid it at the hatch, and it dropped down to Fiona and Gortys below right before Jack could close the lid.

“H..ha…” Rhys wheezed, weakly gripping the claw around his throat and coughing. Fiona and Sasha would get that where it needed to go. They’d be upset about Rhys dying, but they’d finish the mission Vallory had forced them on and then they’d be safe.

“You just have to have the last word, don’tcha?” Jack sneered. “Well, don’t worry kiddo, they won’t be makin it out of here alive.”

Rhys wheezed a laugh at that, gasping as the laser briefly stopped to reposition itself. “S...smarter than...you…” He choked out. 

“Oh, you  _ think _ so huh? That-that’s cute.” Jack laughed. “If you were smarter, you wouldn’t be here, now would you kitten?”

Rhys rolled his eyes. “ _ Th-them. _ ” He clarified. “I can't be...smarter… trusted you… stupidest…”

He screamed again as the saw blade started slowly knicking into his skin. Rhys was pretty sure it was after his spine. Instinctively he arched his back away from it, choking and clawing at the arm around his throat. The edges of his vision were turning black as blood poured down his back, and Rhys squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth. He wouldn't cry. Not for this bastard. Jack wouldn't have the privilege of seeing Rhys break down.

Rhys would refuse him one more thing before he died. 

Jack had to admit, torturing Rhys was waaay more satisfying than he expected. The pathetic look on his face as he got closer and closer to passing out... god it made Jack want to wrap his hands around that pretty little neck and feel the life leave his body. To smack him around and make him cry.

Jack smirked at the intoxicating thoughts, and came to an unusual decision. Killing Rhys like this just wasn’t going to do. Just as he got to the part where he should have ended it and ripped Rhys open, he found himself stopping the machines and lowering Rhys onto the floor.

"Today's your lucky day Rhysie~ I've decided to keep you alive....for now."

Rhys looked up at Jack blearily from the floor, feeling blood seeping down his sides and over his shoulders. He was able to get himself to mouth the sound ‘wh…’, reasonably confused by Jack’s decision to cancel a murder. Especially one he’d been so eager for.

The smirk Jack gave him from the gigantic monitor did nothing to ease Rhys’s concerns. “I’ll accept a thank you later.” He chuckled, watching Rhys’s eyes roll back as the man finally passed out.

 

Rhys woke up in a lot of pain.

He was facedown on a bed, with an oxygen mask over his face and cuffs keeping him pinned to the thin white mattress. He became aware of people around him, and hissed in pain when he tried to sit up.

“Ah, good, he’s awake! Okay you guys can get started now.”

Rhys squinted, and then yelled as the doctors standing around him started stitching him back together, eyes going wide and confusion fueling his panic. A monitor with Jack’s face on it slid into his line of sight, the blue tinted man smirking wickedly at him.

“Smile, Rhysie - we’re live.”

The small red dot on the camera beneath Jack’s monitor backed up his claim, and Rhys clenched his jaw and bit down any further yells.

“Hey so, I know there’s two bandits on my station that happen to have one of my trophies. Rhysie here threw it down a trash chute at you? Yeah, I’m gonna want that back. Take your time making up your mind, though! I’ll just hang onto my collateral here for however long it takes you to decide to ditch him and try and escape without him. Rhysie and I are having a lot of fun, aren’t we buddy?”

Jack motioned for one of the doctors to rip out a set of freshly sewn stitches, and they obeyed. Rhys jolted violently, thrashing and biting down hard on his lip. But the scream Jack wanted him to give for effect didn’t come. He just glared harder at Jack, refusing to make a sound.

“Oooohhh, that helpless look of defiance just gives me shivers!” Jack chucked. “Just look at him, trying so hard to look like he’s not in as much pain as he is. How adorable.”

Rhys's eyes narrowed and he took advantage of the fact that his restrained hand was in the shot, and flipped Jack off.

“Real cute there Rhysie. I’m going to enjoy ripping that defiance out of you, and making you beg for death.”

Rhys rolled his eyes.

Jack chuckled and gestured for the doctors to get back to work. “So, to those two Bandits, give me what I want and Rhysie here will get to live. Time is ticking~” Jack announced before the red light blipped off.

Rhys exhaled, allowing his brow to furrow up in pain but still continuing to keep his cries of pain silenced. He still wasn’t going to give Jack the satisfaction. No matter how bad it got. Seriously though why the  _ fuck  _ was he alive? Jack had been determined to use Rhys as a meat suit, what the hell had changed his mind?

He supposed he could just ask…

“Why… the f-fuck am I alive?” Rhys asked through gritted teeth, not sure how to sound tough besides adding an unnecessary ‘the fuck’ to punctuate his sentence.

Jack leaned forward on the screen, looking delighted that Rhys had asked. “You wanna know, cupcake?” He flickered out of view, and one of the many devices in the ceiling whirred, turning downwards and projecting Jack as a full hologram. He leaned over Rhys, his blue face forcibly taking up Rhys’s entire field of vision. “Because carving out your skeleton while you’re alive is  _ wa-a-ay  _ too nice of a death for an ungrateful little  _ prick  _ like you.”

Rhys narrowed his eyes. “So you’re going to torture me to death with the sound of your voice?”

Jack crouched down, the tall hologram resting his elbows on his knees as he squatted in front of Rhys’s face. “See, shit like that…” He shook his head, chuckling. “You’re  _ really  _ not helping your case. Though honestly, trying to piss me off so bad that I just snap your neck would be your best strategy…” Jack clicked his tongue, grinning horribly and leaning in closer until the definition of ‘personal space’ got wiped from Rhys’s mind. “Oh, kiddo...the things I’m gonna do to you…” His voice was low, and might have even been perversely sexual in nature if not laced thickly with murderous  _ hatred _ . “You’re gonna be screaming for death...you’re gonna wish with every fiber of your pathetic body that you were a corpse jammed around a endoskeleton. I’m gonna strangle you...I’m gonna burn you...I’m gonna cut ya to  _ pieces _ , pumpkin.” Jack’s hand curled around Rhys’s neck, his fingers disappearing through the skin. “I’m gonna kill you properly...nice and slow…”

Rhys’s eyes were wide, pupils shrunken to pinpricks. He could barely feel the needles in his back as he focused on Jack, his heart pounding hard in his chest. As much as Rhys had put up a tough guy front...Jack was  _ terrifying _ . He always was, but especially when he was angry. Rhys swallowed, trying to shrink away as Jack stood up and started laughing.

“Y-you’re sick…” Rhys said hoarsely.

Jack gave him a wink. “You haven’t seen  _ anything  _ yet, pumpkin.” He purred, turning to the doctors. “Give ‘im some adrenaline would ya? Hate for him to pass out and not get to appreciate all the hard work you’re doing.”

Rhys silently cursed the psychopath as a syringe was taken to the IV bag hooked up to him, exhaling hard as his heart began to race even harder.

This...was not good.


	2. Appetizer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys wakes up in a hospital and gets the opposite of what you should get in a hospital

Rhys had a very disorienting return to consciousness.

He was almost grateful for it, as he’d been having some really weird dreams, but the moment he opened his eyes and his face was filled with Blue Asshole, he lost all sense of gratitude and shut his eyes again. “Fffucking…” 

“You look absolutely pathetic when you’re unconscious.” Jack greeted in response.

“Ugh and you look absolutely stupid all the time.” Rhys retorted, trying to sit up and hold his head only to be met with the resistance of restraints on the bed. “Great.” He squinted up at Jack with a grimace. “Can you please stop...putting your face in my face. It’s making me nauseous.” 

Jack reached for Rhys, seemingly to grab his hair, but his hand frustratingly just went through. Jack clenched his fist. “Big talk is easy when it’s at a hologram huh?” Jack sneered.

Rhys gave a laugh, wincing as it made his sore back hurt. “Hah. Yeah. Yeah it...it really is. Man, you know what I was just thinking about? How nice it is to like...physically feel stuff. You know the sensation of contact? God it’s so great isn’t it? Oh wait you wouldn’t know would you. Or you would? But not anymore. Cause you’re dead.”

Jack crossed his arms. “Laugh it up while you can Rhysie. Once one of my body doubles get here, I’ll be able to strangle you with my bare hands and ohhoho is it going to be freakin  _ satisfying _ .”

“Yeah-ha-ha. Until your hands rot off after like, what, a week?” Rhys snorted, stretching out dramatically (as much as he was able). “Oh  _ boy  _ I just love the  _ feeling  _ of this mattress on my  _ own body _ that isn’t rotting around my bones!” 

“Oh yeah? What do you think of the cold there princess?” Jack sneered as the room began to drastically drop in temperature. “It’s the perfect temperature here in the systems. Nothin I have to worry about.”

Rhys started shivering violently, teeth chattering. But his shit eating grin kept up. “H-ha...I th-think i-it m-makes me f-f-feel  _ a-a-al-live _ !” He retorted, lips already starting to turn blue. 

“Not when you’re colder than a corpse.” Jack smirked, before the screen shut off, and Jack’s holographic form vanished.

Rhys let his smirk drop and huddled against the mattress as much as possible, trembling uncontrollably and watching his breath form into mist. “F-f-f-f-fuck…” He whispered, wishing desperately for a shirt. His body was covered in goosebumps already. Rhys tried to pry his arm free, wanting to pull up the blanket that was lying so tauntingly at his hips. “B-b-b-bastard.” He hissed, shutting his eyes and focusing on staying awake and breathing in and out deeply. He’d get out of this. Jack wouldn’t kill him in such a boring and relatively peaceful way.

But maybe he should actually watch his damn mouth next time…

 

Jack laughed to himself as Rhys fell for the illusion of Jack leaving, and he watched with satisfaction as Rhys shivered and struggled, as usual only showing his discomfort when he was sure nobody was watching. He resisted the urge to comment, instead keeping an eye on Rhys’s heart rate, and making sure to warm up the room just slightly to keep Rhys from passing out or freezing to death.

Now that things were quiet and Rhys wasn’t dying, Jack took the time to study the man’s body much closer. The tattoo on his chest was what mostly caught and held Jack's interest. Its resemblance to a siren’s markings made Jack look into Rhys’s file a bit more, curious.

He didn’t have it when he’d first signed on with Hyperion, so that ruled it out immediately as a birthmark and thus a siren mark. Though that was unsurprising. Sirens were female after all. The tattoo showed up in the pictures taken after he had his cybernetics grafted in, though Jack wasn’t entirely sure it was related. It was a possibility but the file was unclear. It only had a brief blurb about ‘cybernetic implantation contract signed, process went smoothly’. 

He tried to read the contract, but his focus almost immediately fizzled out at all the fucking  _ words  _ and he closed the file. Still, Jack found it interesting, making a mental note to interrogate Rhys about it later. For now, he’d just continue to watch Rhys suffer, knowing the man likely wouldn’t beg so early.

_ Dangerously low body temperature detected. Enabling subsystem routine ‘try not to die!’ _

“Whoa, no no no no no no…” Rhys chattered, narrowing his eyes and trying to override the process embedded in his brain. “O-overr-ride. O-ov-verr-ride! Sh-shit..!” He started breathing faster as his heartrate was forcibly increased, making being restrained to the bed even harder. “F-fuck y-y-you H-Hyp-perion..” He hissed, thrashing a little in bed and rapidly flexing and unflexing his toes and fingers in a desperate attempt to burn some of the extra energy being forced through him.

_ Remember, every minute of this routine takes away approximately one year of your life! Try and get somewhere warm, idiot!  _

“F-fuck you!” Rhys spat at the cheery voice in his head, struggling to break into his own programming with no success. “D-d-dammit!” 

“Something the matter cupcake?” Jack asked, his hologram popping in, smirking.

“F-f-f-fuck o-o-off!” Rhys hissed, starting to struggle more violently as the heart rate monitor started beeping faster, his heart having to work on its own to warm up his body without Rhys being able to move around. 

Jack glanced at the heart monitor. “Something getting you excited there pumpkin?” He turned back to Rhys with a grin. “And here I thought you hated me.”

“O-o-oh  _ f-f-fu-uck o-off _ !” Rhys spat, finding the pain in his chest getting  _ worse  _ as Jack pissed him off. “I-i-it’s a f-f-f-fucking b-b-built in s-s-surv-vival m-m-mechani-i-ism th-that I c-c-can’t f-f-fucking t-t-turn o-off!” 

“Why do you want it off then? I thought you  _ wanted _ to live.”

“ _ Y-you t-try f-f-f-fucking l-lying s-s-strapped d-d-down w-w-with your h-h-heart g-g-going f-f-fifty m-miles a-an hour _ !” In other words that Rhys wouldn’t say, it was starting to give him a bit of a panic attack and he absolutely hated those.

“You know we measure heart rate by bpm right?” Jack teased.

_ “F-fuck the f-fuck off _ !” Rhys yelled, breathing harder and starting to feel dizzy. “O-oh god...f-fuck...o-okay...okay...s-stop...stop now…” He tried again to shut off the routine, voice getting weaker.

_ Stable body temperature reached! You have lost 1.67 years of your lifespan! Hyperion says, you’re welcome! _

Rhys squeezed his eyes shut. “F-fuck you.” He hissed again, chest rising and falling heavily as his heart rate finally began to calm its shit. He glared weakly up at Jack after a few moments. “Shouldn’t you be...I d-d-don’t know...r-running Hyperion or something?” 

Jack chuckled. “As a program, I can multitask. Just now I threw Athon Kerger out the airlock for trying to create an antivirus against me. It was pathetic, he used a company computer and everything.”

“Oh, neat. As a human being person I can only...do physical form things.” Rhys murmured, mouth on autopilot and brain focused on other things, like how badly he’d like a nap. He wasn’t able to consciously connect that his mouth was probably going to prevent that.

“Hmm, I wonder if your systems react to excess electricity.” Jack said as a robo arm dropped from the ceiling holding Rhys’s stun baton.

Rhys squinted at it. “You've just been keeping my baton in the ceiling? Why the hell.”

Jack snorted. “I had to take it off of you  _ somehow.” _

“Still doesn't explain why you were keeping it in here but whatever.” Rhys narrowed his eye at the robot holding the baton, ECHO eye clicking.

“What are you scanning?” Jack asked with narrowed eyes as the baton slowly lowered.

“Just uhhhhhhhhhhhh…” Rhys squinted harder, and then grinned as the arm shuddered and jerked, nearly dropping the weapon. 

“Hey! I want dinner first before you prod into me.” Jack protested, crossing his arms.

“Ugh, that’s  _ gross _ . You’re  _ gross _ , Jack.” Rhys beckoned with his metal fingers, moving them to guide the robot to shut off the prod. 

Jack raised an arm, taking back control of the robo arm, and turing the baton back on. It was brought down in a quick movement, hovering over his eye. “Do I need to destroy this?” Jack asked.

“C'mon…” Rhys muttered, gritting his teeth and focusing harder. The arm jerked away again, the robotic appendage acting confused.

Soon Jack found himself engaged in a tug of war, Rhys and himself grappling for control of the arm. And Rhys was actually proving to be a difficult opponent.

Jack stared, focused as he concentrated on the coding, before managing to inch it forward enough to spark Rhys’s ECHO eye. “Ha!”

_ “Gah _ !” Rhys's head jerked and he turned his head into his pillow, squeezing his eyes shut and breathing hard through his teeth as his body spasmed. “G-gh… fuck…” So much for that. Fucking cheater. Though probably it was on Rhys for trying this while he was exhausted and in pain rather than when he was at full health.

But he was on a bit of a time crunch. Who knew how long Fiona and Sasha could stay out of Jack's reach.

Rhys forced himself to pretend like he wasn't in agony, as usual, and turned his glare onto Jack. “You suck.” He hissed, hoping he was feeling salt water trickling down his face and nothing else. 

“That hurts Rhysie~” Jack mocked, placing a hand on his chest. “Just, ruined my whole entire day, that insult.”

“ _ Good _ can you spend the rest of it somewhere else, maybe?” Rhys shut his ECHO eye, fist curled up tightly beneath the sheets and breathing barely staying steady. 

The stun baton was lifted, and then brought down on Rhys’s shoulder. Rhys jerked, back arching and muscles locking up until the baton was removed a few seconds later. He gasped, panting hard and falling back limply against the pillows. He grit his teeth and refused to make any other sound. 

“Wow, this thing shuts you up pretty damn well.” Jack smirked. “Feelin’ tired cupcake?”

“Hf...dealing with your stupidity is...exhausting…” Rhys relented. 

The baton was brought back down onto his shoulder, this time staying a bit longer. “I mean, you’re the one mouthing off at your captor. I think you may be projecting there.” Jack said with a laugh. “Get it? Cause-cause I’m a hologram? Who was stuck in your head?”

Rhys fell back against the bed again once the shocks stopped, panting more shallowly. “Hysterical…” He said weakly, barely keeping his eyes open. 

“Doctor, the patient needs another dose of adrenaline.” Jack announced, and a few moments later a doctor came in to administer.

“Oh come on…” Rhys moaned, his tone very close to one of despair. It was right on the edge of begging. 

“You’re only making it much worse for yourself pumpkin. Anything else you want to say?” Jack chuckled.

Rhys shuddered and bit his lip as the adrenaline entered his system, getting his heart racing again. “Uh...I th...I th-think I’m good.” 

“Awww, you’re  _ learning~ _ ” Jack mused, followed by the sound of a camera click sounding.

Rhys’s eyes snapped back open and narrowed sharply. “Oh  _ fuck you up the ass _ , Jack!” 

Jack just cackled as the baton was brought back down onto Rhys. He yelled, jerking in place and spitting at the hologram uselessly once he was back in charge of his muscles. His body and common sense were screaming at him to just calm the fuck down and shut up, but his pride and anger refused. 

“Ahahahaaa, oh man, you should- you should see the look on haha on your face!” Jack laughed, pointing. “Like an angry kitten!”

Rhys grit his teeth, unable to keep from falling back against the bed again, gasping and still fighting to keep from showing how much pain he was in. He decided to give his mouth a rest and do what Jack hated the most. Rhys decided to ignore him. He didn't respond to the taunt.

“Heh, you’re a riot kiddo.” Jack said as he finally began to calm down. “Ever consider anger management?”

Rhys didn't even give him eye contact. 

Jack smirked. “Oh, ignoring me now? Let’s see how long you last.”

It was easy to last a long time, because unlike Jack, Rhys's head wasn't empty and he had plenty of things to think about. Like how tired he felt. And how sore. And how Fiona and Sasha were doing…

“Hey. Rhys. Rhys. Hey. Rhysie. Hey. Hey. Rhysie.  _ Rhys _ .  _ Rhysss _ . Hey!”

Jack was blinking in and out all around him, voice getting increasingly loud and obnoxious. At first he pretended like he was having fun with it, but he got angrier and angrier with Rhys’s continued ignoring, and finally stabbed him in the shoulder with the baton again.

Rhys gave a choked yell and slumped back against the pillows, giving an exhausted groan. 

“So, how many times did you think about Vaughn’s dick?” Jack said crassly, trying to get a reaction out of Rhys.

_ ‘What the hell does that have to do w...oh. Last time I ignored him and he…’  _ Rhys wanted to sigh and roll his eyes, but he just acted like he hadn’t heard anything. The nice thing about ignoring Jack, was that it had the effect of if he’d actually managed to say something that struck a nerve without having to talk or use his brain at all, which was nice. Especially when he was tired.

Jack let out an audible huff, despite the fact he didn't need to breathe. “What about Sasha then. I’ve seen you staring. I wonder if she knows just how much you gawk at her tits.”

Well there was another thing to think about to distract him from Jack. How helpful.

Except Rhys could feel Fiona ghost slapping the metaphorical shit out of him, so out of guilt he stopped thinking about that pretty fast.

Jack shocked him again. Rhys writhed, thrashing and then dropping to the mattress again. The pattern kept up, occasionally interrupted by Jack whining for Rhys's attention, only to resume when Rhys refused to give it.

An hour and an increasingly impatient Jack later, and Rhys had a noticeable burn on his shoulder. Jack had held the baton there longer this time, hoping it would prod a response out of the stubborn man. So to speak.

“Still feel like being a little shit?” Jack seethed. “I can do this all day, Rhysie!”

Rhys opened his eyes in the middle of the threat, and was now actually making eye contact with Jack, which was a step in the right direction. His expression was hazy, like he was barely keeping conscious.

Jack smirked, reveling in the brief victory. “Aw. Does Rhysie want a nap?”

Rhys hesitated, before eventually sighing and nodding once. He'd admit to that much.

“Beg for it.”

Rhys's glare returned, heavy with fatigue but still determined. “Never.”

Jack's smirk darkened, and he ordered the robot to jab him right in the stomach, deciding to freshen things up. “Keep it up as long as you want, kiddo. Sooner or later I'm gonna beat the stubborn out of ya and you'll be on your knees.” He leaned closer as Rhys continued convulsing under the electrocution. “Even if it takes me a hundred years.”


	3. Software Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhys cedes a little, and Jack is surprisingly quick to reward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah we took forever. for once, not my fault.  
> who's writing this? you'll have to guess

Rhys eventually passed out too hard for even adrenaline to wake him. He could be brought back for a few seconds at a time, in which he’d observe Jack’s yelling face blearily for a moment before passing out again. A doctor cautioned Jack that he was likely to kill the man if he kept up this relentless abuse of his circulatory system with the constant adrenaline injections. Jack had a few dozen turret bullets unloaded into the bastard before deciding that yeah, he should probably give it a rest.

It was so  _ boring  _ without Rhys to harass, though. Yeah, those bandits were still being chased around Helios, but the caravan had a small army of guards around it and the hangar doors were locked tight, so they weren’t going anywhere. He wasn’t really interested in them anyway. Probably he’d only kill them to get a rise out of Rhys. Even the vault was only sort of interesting to him right now. He still had a lot of work to do with the entire Hyperion corporation, seeing as how quickly things went to shit in the span of 6 months.

He couldn’t airlock idiots fast enough.

Jack huffed, pouting at Rhys’s unconscious form. “What would you have done with all those losers if you’d taken my deal, huh?” He asked, glitching to stand over Rhys’s bedside and tilting his head. “I mean, yeah I was gonna put that skeleton in you either way. I don’t share. But I probably would’ve let you have a little bit of fun first, just to see what you’d do.” He snorted and folded his arms. “Probably would’ve just ordered yourself a pizza. I bet you would’ve put pineapple on it too, you sick fuck.”

Rhys twitched a bit, and Jack got excited that he was waking up, but he just sneezed in his sleep before going back to being relaxed.

“...that was adorable. I hate you.” Jack glared harder at the unconscious man. Seriously how could such an unbearable little shit manage to look so harmless and peaceful when he was asleep? “I’m not fooled. I know how inconvenient you are when you’re awake. You’re not sneaky. You're not  _ good _ at lying. Except for lying still. You're being really obnoxiously good at that right now. Don't you do anything with your life? For fuck's sake, Rhys. Take up a hobby besides getting on my fucking nerves.”

Rhys didn't have an impressively stupid attempt at a witty retort to that, so Jack only got more frustrated.

“Ugh. You know what? I've got better things to do than wait for you to get over yourself and wake up. There's a whole middle management division that needs to get airlocked. Hope you don't mind waking up to find all your acquaintances dead!”

Rhys continued just looking obnoxiously peaceful and content, and Jack glitched away to take his impatient tantrum elsewhere.

 

* * *

 

_ Ohho that feels good… _

Rhys groaned as he woke up, a dopey smile on his face as he was seated into a big golden chair by strange hands. Dopamine injectors cheered him up significantly and distracted him from the throbbing in his head and arm. He barely cared when he was locked into place by the chair restraints, sighing in contentment and staring blearily at the ceiling of Jack's office.

Until the fog cleared and suddenly he did care. “Oh fuck.” He cursed, looking back down and seeing an unnamed nurse or doctor exiting the room. “Dammit dammit dammit…”

“Good morning cupcake, how was your nap?” Jack asked, glad his toy was finally awake.

Rhys narrowed his eyes and turned the chair around so he wasn’t facing the monitor in front of his face.

Only for Jack to of course project his face even more gigantic on the window behind him.

Rhys sighed. “I never know when I have it good until I have it worse, do I?”

“It can always get worse pumpkin.” Jack sneered.

“Yeah I’ve picked up on that.” Rhys winced his damaged ECHO eye, rolling his heavily burned shoulder and wincing. “You couldn’t have stabbed me with an Insta-health or something?” 

“Aww, where’s the fun in that? Besides, the bandit who invented them...preeetty sure he isn’t a real doctor.”

“What do you want?” Rhys snapped, the pain he was in making him extra cross.

“Total Pandoran domination. Oh, you meant about with  _ you. _ Uh, hmmm...” Jack made a show of counting on his fingers, mouthing his thoughts before turning to Rhys with a grin. “Oh right, to make you wish you were never born! That’s it.”

“Accomplished the moment you opened your mouth and made me hear your voice. Next?”

“I’m having my R&D department develop a type of disease that kills people via obnoxiousness and we’re naming it after you.”

“Oh so you’re growing a clone huh?” Rhys couldn’t help but laugh a beat later, overwhelmingly and smugly pleased with himself for nailing that retort so quickly. “Aha! Oh come on. Come on. That was good. That was  _ really  _ good.” 

Jack chuckled, shaking his head. “I mean, statistically you’ve got to nail one sooner or later.”

“I can see you’re in recovery.” Rhys tilted up his chin, feeling a little butthurt that his awesome comeback hadn’t been properly recognized for how awesome it really was. “But I know how you really f- _ e-e-e-e-e-e-el _ -!” Rhys suddenly spasmed violently, ECHO eye glitching and sparking and flickering rapidly for a few seconds before stopping and dumping Rhys limply against the chair. He gasped, heaving in deep breaths. “...well that...that was...a bit uncomfortable.”

The middle manager's eye felt like there was a buzz-axe lodged into it that was being twisted around his brain. 

He swallowed. “...kinda really a bit uncomfortable…”

Jack squinted. “Did I fuck up your eye or something cupcake?”

“Oh, no you just stabbed it with a goddamn electric baton I’m sure it’s  _ fine  _ Jack.”

“Oh please, it barely touched you.”

“How about you stick the baton in the main power core and then I’ll tell you you’re being a baby when you glitch out.” 

“One little strike from that baton won’t do shit.”

“Oh you wanna b _ -b-b-b-b-be-e-e-e-et _ ?” Rhys jerked again, swearing under his breath and gasping.

Jack laughed. “It’s hilarious watching you glitch out. Your face goes..haha.. completely stupid.”

Rhys shut his eyes, swallowing and feeling sweat drip down his temple. God that hurt...he tried to send an emergency shut off command to his cybernetics, but his request was corrupted and ignored. “Shit…”

“Good luck trying to hack anything without your eye.” Jack sneered.

“Not trying to...hack...trying to...shut it  _ off _ …” Rhys jerked again as it glitched out, yelling through his teeth and pressing his head back against the chair.

“And how's that going for ya?”

“Gh…it's  _ n-n-n-n-no-o-o-ot _ !” Rhys yelped and jerked his head back, fists curled up tightly as he slouched forward. “Oh fuck…”

“Well enough about _ you _ . Guess what I was up to while you were being a useless lump? I'll give you a hint. It involves the middle management division and an airlock.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Aha, yeah! All of 'em! I mean I'd be really surprised if a little shit like you actually managed to have more than two friends on this station, even if one of them stabbed you in the back, but better not risk it, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So thanks to you they're all dead now!”

“That sucks.”

_ “Rhys freaking PAY ATTENTION TO ME!”  _

Rhys jumped in place as Jack’s voice suddenly  _ shook  _ the room slightly, pupils contracting and breathing picking up. “I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry I j...i-i-it’s really hard to think right now m-my eye is wired into my cybernetics it’s attached to my brain i-i-i-it affects a lot of things!”

"Clearly." Jack muttered with his eyes narrowed. "Those cybernetics are really fragile aren't they?"

"I dunno if I'd..." Rhys thought better of trying to sass Jack at the moment and instead just nodded. "K..kinda, yeah."

"You dunno if what, kiddo?"

"Uh,  _ n-n-n-n-n _ -othing, gah! Nothing."

"Don't lie to me." Jack's very tone was a warning.

"...I was gonna say something stupid." Rhys admitted. "Decided I don't actually need anymore pain right now."

Jack smirked. "Awh. Is Rhysie learning this time?"

Rhys frowned.

"C'mon... _ ssssaaaaayyy _ it..."

Rhys glitched again, slumping further in the chair and giving a shaky sigh. "I'm learning."

Jack cackled, pleased with his small victory. "Hahaha, perfect! Oh, cupcake, there's hope for you after all! I'll have you house trained in no time!"

"Mhm... seems like a waste of time if you're just gonna kill me." Rhys kept his ECHO eye closed, barely able to keep his voice from shaking as the pain continued growing worse.

"Well who knows, Rhysie. Maybe I'll just kill you metaphorically, on the inside. Then I'll just have a cute little pet around the office - someone to play fetch with when I'm bored."

Rhys shuddered at the picture of Jack 'playing' with a dead-eyed, broken version of himself. "Mhm..."

Jack sighed, huffing and putting in a request to the cybernetics department. "Alright, hold your horses. I'm sending for a tech to fix your dumb eye."

Rhys looked up at Jack. "... why?"

"You're being pathetic and it's only sort of my fault. And ya gotta reward the  _ little  _ breaks in pride when you're training~ Makes the next one even easier."

"... you're really messed up." Rhys mumbled, glitching again and crying out weakly this time.

"Ehh, I've been called worse."

"I'm not name calling I'm stating facts." Rhys said exhaustedly, twitching as another glitch ran through him. "I seriously think you need help."

Jack laughed. "Y'now, probably. But I didn't get this far in life talking about my feelings so..."

"Right.... just a reminder, you  _ are _ ... you did die."

"And I'm alive again like the legend I am." Jack said with a laugh.

Rhys grimaced. “Yeah...that’s...that’s my bad.”

The door to the office opened, and a technician walked in. "Mr. Handsome Jack, sir, you requested me?" She asked, voice and posture stiff and formal. "I'm the technician from the R&D Department."

“Come on in sweetheart.” Jack made a lazy wave with his hand, grinning a little at all the nasty looking tools she wheeled in with her. “We’ve got a scorched eyeball for you to look at. Fix it up quick. Oh and disable any hacking abilities - Rhysie here is on timeout.”

“Fair enough.” Rhys conceded with a tired murmur.

Yeah wow this worn out Rhys was boring as hell. Jack snapped his fingers to urge the tech to hurry up, already starting to lose his mind. He squinted when she picked up a syringe. “What’s that?”

“A mild sedative.” She responded. “I need him awake but relaxed so that he doesn’t thrash about while I’m trying to work.”

Rhys grimaced. “Crap...I forgot about this part.”

Jack tilted his head.

“...I get. Weird. When I’m loopy.”

"Weird? Weird how?"

"Just...don't...listen to anything I say? Don't take it...seriously or..." Rhys huffed, wincing an eye as he was injected a little carelessly. "Think laughing gas sorta...loopy."

Jack chuckled. "This aughta be hilarious. I'm definitely going to record it then."

Rhys sighed, shutting his eyes. “Of course.” Maybe he’d be lucky and he’d just space out and not say anything. Not that that had ever been the case in the past - Vaughn and Yvette always took turns escorting him to upgrades and repairs because they’d found it so funny and cute.

The tech began prepping her tools and taking diagnostic readings, and after a few minutes, Rhys rolled his head back and squinted up at Jack. “...what’s goin’ on?”

Jack smirked. "You're gettin' your cybernetics fixed up, pumpkin." He answered, switching his display so he was reclined across the large monitor, one ankle resting over his other knee and foot twitching as he crossed an arm behind his head.

Rhys blinked wide. "Fixed? What happened?"

"They got a bit fucked up, not to worry kiddo, you're gonna be taken care of."

Normally, this was the part where Rhys gave a scoff and snapped something along the lines of doubting Jack's capability of taking care of him. Instead Rhys gave a warm, slightly flustered smile. "Okay Jack." He hummed, allowing the tech to get to work without further squirming.

Jack chuckled. "So this is you when you're loopy huh? Not bad kiddo."

He smiled wider at the praise, even though it was more than a little backhanded. "Th...thank you!"

"Damn, like a little puppy." Jack mused.

And just as eager to please, if not more so.

He suddenly yelped as the tech dug into his neural port with a tool, not exactly being gentle. "O-ow!"

"Hold still." Was all she said.

Rhys shifted uncomfortably but did his best to obey.

Jack focused on the tech, frowning slightly. "You do know how delicate those cybernetics are right?"

"I am being careful, sir. Pain is an inevitable part of the experience." She responded.

Rhys hissed again as she expertly extracted his port and began poking at it. "O-ow..." He gripped the arms of the chair tighter.

The tech continued her work, and Rhys was clearly doing his best to suffer through it. But his 'ow's became more frequent and more sharp in tone until they were basically yelps.

When she started on his eye, that was when he started choking back sobs. "J-Jack...Jack can it stop now? Please? Please m-make it stop it really hurts." He begged.

"Isn't the point of anesthetics to numb the pain?" Jack asked the technician.

"He's sedated to prevent struggle. Hyperion's research budget is not devoted to things like pain reduction."

That did admittedly sound like something Jack would agree with.

Normally.

"So you're saying there is nothing you could give my pet here?" Jack asked, a turret dropping from the ceiling and aiming at the tech. "Normally I'd be all for this cupcake, but Rhysie here is mine. I don't share. Get him some fuckin anesthetic before I blow your brains out."

The tech looked up. "...I don't have any on hand and I need to finish the procedure once I've begun."

"I'm sorry, did I ask for excuses?"

"I can repair his eye or I can stop and he can be coddled."

Jack shook his head and the turret shot into her, her corpse falling to the ground. "Hey, cybernetics department. Get me a new tech and some anesthetics. Janitorial you're also needed."

Rhys jumped in place at the violence, whimpering a little and weakly scooting the chair away from the bloody corpse on the ground.

"You're welcome pumpkin. The bitch isn't gonna hurt you anymore~"

Rhys cleared his throat, blinking rapidly and obviously struggling not to cry. "O-okay."

"What's wrong Rhysie?"

"S-sorry it just. It hurts."

"Don't worry pumpkin, you're gonna be feelin good pretty soon."

Rhys sniffed. "O-okay."

"What, not gonna thank me? I killed this woman for you."

"Sorry!" Rhys sniffed again. "Th-thank you for defending me, Jack. I'm sorry it was just... it scared me."

"Heh, that's adorable. You're welcome kiddo."

Rhys smiled a little, snorting up a bit of snot that had leaked out during his cry. "You…- _ sniff- _ think I'm... heh... adorable?"

"You've got the puppy eyes. Definitely a change from the usual pout and glare I get from ya."

"I don't pout..."

Jack snickered. "Yeah you do."

Rhys pouted. "... okay I know I do but I'm sensitive about it."

Jack chucked, before turning slightly. "Cybernetics! What's the friggin hold up?"

_ "S-sorry sir we're sending someone right now he's on his way!" _

"Make it faster!"

Rhys squirmed uncomfortably at Jack's tone, clearly distressed by the display of anger. "Are you...you're not mad at me right? Jus'...making sure..."

"Nah pumpkin, just my employees."

Rhys exhaled, visibly relieved. "Oh. Okay. G..good." He squirmed in his seat and laughed nervously. "You...you p-probably already know this but you're...y-you're really scary when you're uhm. Mad."

"Damn right I am kiddo."

A minute later there was a rapid but somehow still timid knock at the gigantic office door.

"Come in." Jack said, the door powering open.

A small, slightly chubby, darker skinned man holding a wide narrow toolkit in his arms ran in, panting breathlessly. He stopped in the middle of the pathway, gawking at the incredible sight that was Jack's office with an open mouth before pulling himself together and continuing to approach the desk. He shrank back a little from the intimidating sight of Jack's gigantic face looming on the big monitor, clutching his toolbox tighter to his chest.

"...h-h-h-hello Mr. Handsome Jack, sir...I-I'm the....y-y-you asked for a t-t-technician? C-cybernetics? Sir?"

"Yep! Come on over and give Rhysie here something to numb his pain then get to work. Pay no mind to your former co-worker." Jack said with a chuckle.

The man squinted, rounding the desk and then going wide-eyed at the bloody sight of the other tech on the floor. He put a hand over his mouth, dropping his tool kit and turning around away from it, breathing rapidly. "O-oh my. Oh dear. O-oh...oh no...oh no..."

"Yeah, to be fair, she was being a stuck up bitch. Do you want to know what she did Mr....?"

"Y-yes sir..." It didn't look like he actually wanted to know, but he correctly guessed that Jack wanted to deliver a dramatic 'warning'.

"Well Mr. Yes, this bitch here decided she was smarter than me, and had the idiocy to talk back to me, and not obey orders. You're not going to be like her, right?"

'Yes' shook his head, crouching down to pick his tool case back up. "N-n-no Mr. Handsome Jack sir..."

Rhys frowned. "Aw. Jack you're scarin' him. Stop...quit it. That's so mean..."

Jack chuckled. "Unless you want another idiot like your first tech Rhysie. Just making sure he knows what'll happen so he does a good job."

"I'll d-do a good job s-sir." Yes eyed the pool of blood. "M... may I move the chair so that I..I won't be the w-way of the janitors? Please?"

"Yeah sure, go ahead." Jack allowed. Though not without tagging a “Baby.” onto the end of it.

Yes exhaled and grabbed Rhys's chair, carefully steering him away from the blood and body and then setting his tool kit on the ground. "Okay...l-let's get started..."

The man turned his full attention to his patient, shaking off the presence of his dead coworker as best he could. He forced a smile and looked at Rhys, holding out a hand. “Mr. Rhys? I'll be working on you today.”

Rhys wiggled his trapped fingers and grinned. "Heey~"

"...oh I see you've already been given the uhm...hm." Yes put his hand away awkwardly. He crouched back down in front of his toolbox and began going through it. “Alright, I’m...I’m going to start off with just a preliminary exam...a simple test to make sure there’s no uh...no other problems for me to be wary of besides what I’ve already been informed of. It’s quick and painless.” He assured Rhys, taking out a very small jack and holding it up so Rhys could see it.

Rhys eyed it warily but nodded. “Okay.” He held still as Yes inserted the jack into his cybernetics and held it there for a few seconds until it gave a soft beep. 

Yes removed it and inserted it into a handheld device from his belt, going over the readings on his screen. “Hm...okay, some wires that are a little fried, but still in working order...hm…” He frowned at what passed as ‘psychological trauma’ that had been converted into computer speak, but didn’t mention any of it. That wasn’t what he was qualified to fix, anyhow. “Uh...overall just some wear and tear. Nothing serious. It won’t keep me from doing my job, anyway.” He looked up at Jack. “Would you like me to replace any worn out hardware while I’m in there, Mr. Jack sir? I’ve got all the supplies with me.”

"Sure." Jack shrugged, waving a hand. "Whatever needs to be fixed."

Yes smiled. “Yes sir.” He put the handheld scanner back in his belt and picked up another jack. “Alright Mr. Rhys I’ll need to ah...put you to sleep now. In the literal sense, of course, so I can start work.”

“Okaay.” Rhys said, and then tilted his head and squinted. “Should I lie down somewhere…?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. Don’t worry, when you wake back up you’ll be feeling brand new.” Yes assured, putting a hand on Rhys’s shoulder to steady him and putting in the jack.

Rhys’s eyes fluttered and then fell closed. He tipped forward a little, but then after a moment his body tensed up enough to keep him upright.

Yes held him up a bit more, nodded, and then pulled out the scarier looking tools. He found these appointments went better when he didn’t reveal the repair kit until after the patient was unconscious.

 

* * *

 

Jack watched, curious, for about an hour before he got bored and shifted his focus to running Helios, occasionally checking back in. At one point janitorial came in, cleaned up the mess, and then vanished, and all the while, 'Yes' worked patiently and precisely. Sometimes Rhys would flinch or shift in his catatonic state and Yes would pause, murmur an apology, and then work even more slowly and carefully. His hands were very steady and his focus was fixated completely on Rhys.

After two hours, he had replaced all the fried pieces of Rhys's cybernetics, refreshed the bent and worn bits of metal, and updated the software as well, just as a bonus while he was here.

Rhys never once cried out in pain. But Jack could see why the cybernetics department had decided pain-free upgrades were a drain on time - Yes had taken for  _ forever _ , and this was only a standard fix. Jack knew for a fact there were more intensive upgrades to be had, and those would have taken several hours if not more than a day at a time, at the rate Yes worked.

"All done Mr. Handsome Jack sir." Yes informed, removing the jack from Rhys's port that seemed to render him asleep, and Rhys blinked awake, still looking hazy-eyed.

"Welcome back cupcake, how do ya feel?" Jack asked with a smirk as Rhys blinked his eyes open.

Rhys gave a yawn, blinking slowly and stretching out as much as he could in the chair. "Mm...less...shock-y." He giggled. "Yayy.."

Jack snorted. "Everything's working fine?"

Rhys squinted, ECHO eye clicking and scanning the area. "Ssseems like it? I'd...yeah. Feels good. Real good."

"Good. Things should be easier now that you're functional again."

"Yeah!" Rhys smiled widely. "...like what?"

Jack chuckled. "You being able to do more without sparking every five minutes for example."

"Yeaaahhh...that sucked pretty hard." Rhys tilted his head, idly watching as Yes gathered up his things and then excused himself. Rhys then turned his eyes back up to Jack. "How'd that happen, huh? What'd I...do?"

"Don't worry about that cupcake. So, you hungry or somethin? Anything you need before the loopiness wears off and you resume being a grump?"

Rhys gave a big yawn, and then shook his head. "I mean I'm hungry but I'd...man I wanna sleep...m'brain is all..." He made a 'pblt' noise. "Ssss...static."

"I dunno.. A static that's supposed to happen?"

"...Jack I love you but that doesn't make 'ny sense."

Jack paused for a moment, before smirking. "Aww, what was that Rhysie? Damn, I didn't expect a little love confession outta you."

Rhys snorted, giving another yawn and slouching back against the chair. "Vaughn an' Yvette always fight over who gets t'take me to these things 'cause it turns me into a big...big ol' sap." Rhys grinned. "Guess I'm tryin' too hard to pretend I'm some kinda big shot to let m'friends know I love 'em when I'm sober."

Jack snorted. "That's adorable."

"So stupid how Hyperion makes everyone think you can't... can't love anybody. I f...I freaking love my friends! Deal w... deal with it! Stupid soul sucking corporation..." Rhys gave the floor a little kick.

"Yeah, everything went to shit when I died. All these morons were driving Hyperion into the ground."

Rhys yawned, nodding his head and closing his eyes. "Bunch of dicks..."

"Goin’ to sleep already cupcake?" Jack asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I was gaven a sentative what're you expected?"

Jack snorted. "Fair enough kitten."

Rhys gave a smile, waved at Jack with his trapped hand, and promptly passed out.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> prances off


End file.
